From our archives
5 years ago
A store owned by retail tycoon Sir Philip Green has been ordered to return a famous landmark to its roof after a victory by campaigners who included Irvine Welsh, pictured. The Forsyth Sphere designed by Gilbert Bayes was removed from its perch on top of Topshop four years ago without Edinburgh City Council’s permission, but David Mclean, of the Lost Edinburgh website, secured 4,500 signatures, to bring it back to its rightful place.
10 years ago
A 105-year-old former suffragette received a film star’s welcome yesterday when she marked International Women’s Day by attending a wreath-laying ceremony in London. Hetty Bower, who has campaigned for equal rights and attended peace demonstrations for years, arrived at a statue of women’s rights heroine Emmeline Pankhurst in Victoria Tower Gardens to applause from the assembled guests..
25 years ago
A bit of mould which changed the course of medicine was sold for £23,000 at an auction yesterday. The spore from Sir Alexander Fleming’s original mould which led to the discovery of penicillin in 1928 was bought by health care company Pfizer at the sale at Sotheby’s in London. Experts had expected it to fetch £10,000£15,000. The slidenwas sold by Mrs Diane Huntingford, 49, who worked as a secretary to Fleming’s assistant Dan Stratful.
50 years ago
About 4300 Rolls-royce workers, including 1655 in Scotland, are to lose their jobs within three weeks, Mr Rupert Nicholson, the company’s receiver, said yesterday in Derby. It was also announced that the firm’s Hamilton factory is to close. In addition to the 4300 redundancies another 12,000 to 18,000 Rolls-royce workers will lose their jobs if the RB-211 aero engine is discontinued, said Mr Frederick Corfield, Minister of Aviation Supply.
100 years ago
A daring “hold-up” was carried out in a sub-post office on London Street, Glasgow, on Monday morning. Shortly after nine o’clock a man entered the office, and drawing a revolver from his pocket pointed it at the two young women who were on duty. The intruder climbed over the counter, and the frightened girls ran into the retiring room at the rear of the premises. The man took silver from one of the drawers amounting to £5.
1562: Kissing in public was banned in Naples, contravention being punishable by death.
1763: William Cobbett, political journalist and author of Rural Rides, was born in Farnham, Surrey.
1796: Napoleon Bonaparte married society beauty Josephine de Beauharnais.
1831: The French Foreign Legion was founded by King Louis Philippe, with headquarters at Sidi-bel-abbes in Algeria.
1862: The Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between iron-clad ships, took place during the American Civil War.
1917: Foreign intervention in the Russian Revolution begins as British troops land in Murmansk.
1956: Britain deported Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus for “actively fostering terrorism”.
1973: In a referendum boycotted by most Catholics, Northern Ireland voted in favour of staying in the UK by a majority of 90-1. 1993: Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los
Angeles police officers accused of violating his civil rights.
Birthdays
Neil Hamilton, politician and former Conservative MP, 72; Bill Beaumont, broadcaster and former rugby player, 69; Baron Willetts, member of the House of Lords, 65; Martin Fry, singer (ABC), 63; Juliette Binoche, actress, 57; Martin Johnson, former England rugby union team manager, 51; Kerr Smith, actor, 49; Juan Sebastian Veron, former footballer, 46; Oscar Isaac, actor, 42.
Quote of the day
“If we want a fairer, more equal world – and I certainly do – then we need women to be represented in all their diversity at the decision-making table, in positions of power, in the public eye and in their communities”– movie star Helena Bonham Carter, pictured, voices her support for the March4women campaign.